Located at the northeast of the archipelago, Genovesa or Tower Island is home of a great number of seabirds, unique species of finches and absence of land reptiles and Galapagos hawks, being the top predator the short eared owl. Early in the morning as we arrived to the caldera of Genovesa Island we encountered large numbers of birds flying around and then at the distance the greenery of the vegetation, was the clear evidence of the rainy season started in this remote place, which highest place do not reach a hundred meter of altitude.
After breakfast we started our day with a couple of walks that took us in to different colonies of sea birds such as Nazca boobies, red footed boobies, great frigatebirds, and swallow tailed gulls. As we explored a bit more we were surprised by the presence of a few short eared owls. This species of owl is the top predator due to the lack of Galapagos hawks, due this, the owl is a daylight hunter.
One of the greatest things to observe were some males great frigatebirds with their bright red gular pouch extended. The males inflate their pouches and show them off to look more attractive to females; February is just the beginning of the mating season for great frigatebirds and until July we will find these males displaying their mating calls and pouches.
After visit the island, we had chance to snorkel along the vertical cliffs. Colorful fish such us steel pompanos, yellow fin mullets, Moorish idols, manta rays, spotted eagle rays were the delightful of our guests; but probably the best part of the snorkeling was when we observed a group of hammerhead sharks that swam indifferently close to us; we saw more than four, all of then more than 3 meters long.
We ended our great journey with a great sunset and the skies full of birds and their calls.
